Be Prepared
by forensicsfan
Summary: It's an interesting evening at Nick's when Sara joins the guys for a modified game of poker.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, coffee with George and Jorja would be nice.

**Author's Note:** I got this random idea and couldn't go to sleep last night until I'd finished writing it. Let's just say I'm thankful for Starbucks after four hours of sleep.

* * *

Sara had been the only smart one of the bunch. Having realized her serious limitations when it came to poker, she showed up at Nick's house wearing four skirts, three shirts, a sweater, a stocking cap, and multiple layers of underwear. She was more than willing to enter into the spirit of fun playing a little strip poker, however, the last thing she wanted was to end up naked in a room full of her male coworkers. The idea was to get all of them naked. 

Warrick had just shaken his head and chuckled at her lumpy appearance when she'd walked in, Nick's mouth had gaped open before he'd let out a chortle, and Greg looked seriously disappointed, having come wearing a pair of swim shorts, a T-shirt, and pair of flip flops.

They hadn't bothered to invite Grissom because they knew his skill at poker was legendary since he'd financed his first body farm out of college with his poker winnings and none of them wanted to suffer than kind of embarrassment.

After the first two hands, things were looking interesting. Greg was down his shirt and shorts and holding out hope that he was going to keep his underwear, Warrick had lost his shoes, and Nick was minus his LVPD cap and his belt. Sara hadn't lost an article of clothing yet.

Nick was eyeing Sara across the table. "I thought you said you didn't know how to play poker." So far, she'd won both hands.

Sara smirked. "I didn't say I didn't know how to play. I just said I wasn't very good at it. I'm just lucky, that's all." Truth be told, Greg had been seriously distracted in the first hand at the prospect of seeing her sans clothing and the other two had just been a little too cocky. She really had been lucky.

Warrick dealt the next hand, putting on his best poker face as he won the round handily. He wore a smug smile as he glanced around the table. "Everybody discard." He arched his brows at Sara.

She smirked and pulled her sweater off. "Satisfied?"

Greg let out a little squeak. "Each of my shoes counts as one, right?"

Nick chortled as he kicked off a shoe. "Yeah."

Warrick just chuckled and shook his head as he watched Nick deal. "You know that we're all gonna end up buck naked before Sara even shows any skin."

The idea of Sara losing her clothes had Greg distracted throughout the hand and no manner of bluffing could convince any of the other three that he had any cards that were worth any, that is until he lay down a royal flush. He grinned around the table. "Read 'em and weep. I think this means all of you need to start stripping."

Sara pursed her lips as she pulled one of her shirts over her head.

Nick kicked another shoe off and quirked his eyebrow at her again. "Just how many of those do you have on?"

She arched her brows a bit suggestively. "I guess you'll have to hope I lose to find out."

Warrick let out a low chuckle and shook in amusement and then pulled his shirt off, leaving his bare chest exposed. "It was getting a little hot in here anyway."

Sara smirked. "You just keep telling yourself that, Warrick."

"It's true, Sara." Nick teased. "I turned the heat up so we wouldn't all be freezing in the nude."

Sara began to consider that maybe agreeing to play a game of strip poker with the guys was a bad idea. She was pretty sure they would have just played regular poker if she hadn't come, but originally Catherine and Mia were supposed to come too, but they got called in to work. A faint tinge of pink colored her cheeks and she arched a brow at Nick. "Well, it's a good think that I've lived in Vegas for a while. I'm used to the heat."

Greg and Warrick both laughed as Greg dealt the hand.

Sara ended up losing the next four hands and she was still comfortably dressed with a shirt and a skirt left as well as all those layers of underwear. The guys were not so fortunate. Warrick was sitting there in his boxers and Greg was wearing a strategically placed dishtowel, even though he was completely out of the game now. Of the three guys, only Nick had managed to keep most of his clothes on, still sporting his jeans and a pair of boxers.

Sara wasn't sure how long she was going to be able to stay in the game, what with the naked chests of three men staring at her to distraction.

Nick was far too excited as he lay his cards down. "I'd say that's one of the best hands we've seen all night long."

Warrick rolled his eyes as he stood up. "I guess I'm out."

Sara smirked at him. "I guess you lose." She purposely ogled him as he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers.

The sound of a cell phone going off in the pocket of Warrick's jeans stopped him from completing the action. He smirked at Sara and reached for his phone. "I guess you'll just have to dream." He put on a more serious face as he answered the phone. "Brown." He chuckled. "Yeah, I would love to come in to work."

Sara scoffed.

Nick laughed.

"Yeah, I was losing my shorts anyway." He tried to restrain a slightly embarrassed smile at the comment that only he could hear on the other end of the line. "Yeah, he's here too. He's already lost his shorts." He laughed. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that." He ended the call and a smug smile spread across his face. "That was Catherine. I have to go."

"Of course you do." Nick teased with a knowing grin.

"That's not fair." Sara protested, putting off the inevitable of removing either her last shirt or her last skirt.

Warrick crossed his arms in front of his chest. "If you wanted to see me naked, Sara, all you had to do was ask."

Sara's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant."

"You didn't get that excited when Sanders lost his shorts." Warrick knew Sara was just protesting the fact that he was getting off easy.

"Oooh, he does have a point." Greg stood up, holding the dishtowel strategically. "And as I recall, Nicky here was the winner of the hand. I think that means you need to lose something."

Nick was just looking at her with a grin on his face. "Strip, Sidle."

Sara feigned a glare at the guys and pulled her last shirt off over her head, arching her brows at all three of them. "Satisfied?"

Greg looked at her oddly as he took in the assortment of bras she had on. "Just how many layers are you wearing?"

She smirked back. "You'll never know. You have to work."

"C'mon, Greg. Next time we'll have to have a few rules about how many clothes you can start with." Warrick was pulling his jeans on.

"I don't have clothes for work." Greg protested wanting to stick around to see how much more Sara would lose.

"We'll swing by your place then. Catherine needs us now." Warrick was stern as he pulled a shirt on.

"Being a CSI means sacrificing your personal life now and then." Nick was thoroughly enjoying himself at the prospect of continuing this little game of strip poker with Sara all by himself.

"C'mon, Sanders." Warrick was fully clothed now and Greg was just pulling his shorts on, picking up his shirt on the way to the door.

Greg glanced back and looked at Sara suggestively. "We are going to do this again."

"In your dreams, Greg." Sara called out as she began to deal the next hand.

As Warrick and Greg closed the door, Nick snickered. "You probably are in his dreams."

"What about yours, Nick?" Without thinking, Sara retorted, not taking the time to consider how her words sounded.

"Sometimes." Nick studied his cards intently, purposely not looking at Sara as he was fairly certain his response had taken her by surprise.

"I need a card." Sara informed him, hoping that she could manage to win two more hands before she was out of clothing.

Nick just kept quiet, a smug smile on his face as he tried to keep from staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

Sara lost the next three hands and her skirt and two of her bras joined the discard pile. She furrowed her brow as she studied her next hand of cards. She had to win, Nick didn't have much more on, and she didn't have much more she could lose before things got a little more interesting than she'd hoped.

Nick looked at her skeptically and gestured towards his cards as he folded. "Let me guess, you have a pair?"

"Well it would sure beat that hand." Sara smirked knowing that her cards were no better than his were.

Nick stood up and quickly unfastened his pants, shoved them down and stepped out of them, leaving him standing there in a pair of silky boxers.

Sara looked at him with interest. "I wouldn't have guessed you'd wear such nice underwear."

He smirked. "Well I dressed up since I knew there was a chance I'd be showing them off." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "I see you wore lace."

She giggled. "I thought you guys would appreciate it."

"But did you have to wear so much of it?" He grinned at her as he sat back down.

Sara tried to keep the color out of her face. "Well, I only have to win one more time and you lose."

"Keep on telling yourself that, Sara." Nick teased back, intent on winning the next few hands so that she would lose a little more of that underwear.

After three straight wins, Nick was feeling pretty smug. Sara was down to her last bra and its matching panties. One more win and he was going to be seeing a bit of Sara Sidle that no one at the lab had.

From the get go, Sara looked worried. Here she had worn all of these extra layers of clothes in hopes that things wouldn't get this far, but now she had a hand that would make a grown man cry.

Nick sensed her trepidation and tried to keep from smiling, smelling victory so close.

Sara nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and wondered silently to herself why she'd never grown it out long so that if she lost her bra she'd at least have something to cover herself up with.

Nick knew he had a good hand, and he was just biding his time until Sara folded.

After long moments spent with a furrowed brow and exchanging cards, Sara let out a defeated whimper. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Nick couldn't help but laugh at what she was implying. "Sara, you dealt the cards."

She feigned a glare as she folded.

Nick sat back in his chair and stared at her. "I believe that means you lost."

"We still have one more hand." Sara retorted.

"Well the rules say that if you lose the hand you lose a piece of clothing. I still haven't seen you strip." He was smug.

Sara briefly considered which piece of clothing to take off. If she took off her bra, she was fairly certain that flashing him would distract him enough to lose the hand, but if she took off her panties, he'd have to use his imagination since the table blocked his view. In the end she shimmied out of her panties as she sat in her chair and then tossed them at Nick as she crossed her legs.

Nick's eyes widened at the mental images going through his mind and he knew that if he dared to look under the table that she'd kill him. He could wait one more hand to taste victory and get Sara to parade in front of him.

He quickly dealt the cards and gave her a look of challenge. "Last hand, winner takes the last piece of clothing off of the loser."

Sara's eyes went wide. "That's not in the rules." She really wasn't sure if it was or not because this was the first time she'd ever actually played strip poker.

"Texas rules." Nick grinned at her knowing that no matter how this ended he was going to thoroughly enjoy himself.

Sara huffed and picked up her hand. "Fine."

Nick wasn't sure how Sara was feeling about her cards, but he really didn't care, he was pretty please with his. And as he considered numeric probabilities, he realized that it was highly unlikely that her hand would beat his. "What do you have?"

Sara had a look of resignation on her face. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Nick chuckled. "Well, Sara, if you wanted to get me naked, all you had to do was ask." He arched his brows suggestively, only half joking.

Sara lay her cards down, knowing full well that she had lost.

Nick pursed his lips as he put his cards down one at a time. "I think that means that I win." He was close to gloating, but then he saw the look on her face and he decided to compromise. "I'll make you a deal."

Sara looked at him not quite sure where he was going with this.

"Since you have to get naked, I'll get naked too. It's only fair." He realized as he said the words that it sounded like a proposition.

"And what are we going to do after that?" She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips.

"Oh, I can think of a few things." Nick was thinking that maybe now would be a good time to let her know that he had feelings for her that went well beyond the boundaries of friendship.

The words out of Sara's mouth surprised Nick. "Ok."

His eyes went wide.

"But you have to come over here." She wondered if this really was a good idea, but she'd been feeling something for him for a while and she reasoned that as long as they were both getting naked, she might as well see where things might go.

Nick stood up and walked over to her, not quite realizing that his boxers had a tent forming in the front.

Sara had surprise and amusement dancing in her eyes as she regarded the situation. "Boy, you must be really glad to see me."

Nick glanced down and let out a groan.

Sara smirked and stood up, reaching over and hooking her thumbs into his waistband. "What do you say we do this together?"

Nick wasn't sure where she was going with this, but he was not going to miss out on the opportunity to see her naked. Before she had even begun to yank his boxers down, he had her out of her bra.

With Nick's boxers pooling around his ankles, they looked at each other for a fraction of a second before there was a clash of lips and tongues and hands roaming over exposed flesh.

They made it as far as the couch.

* * *

It was at the beginning of his next shift that Nick saw Warrick again. "Hey, man." 

Warrick looked at him, completely suspicious of the dopey grin on his face. "So who won?"

Nick smirked in return, not quite ready to give any details. "It was a draw."

_**The End**_


End file.
